Our last day in New York, we had to check out by noon. We decided to get up early and go to the World Trade Center. I bought tickets online for the observation deck for 9am, which were the first of the day. That morning I went to buy us New York bagels for breakfast from a shop near the hotel that was recommended on Yelp. It was probably the best bagel I've ever had. Fluffy and delicious, yet solid, but without being too dense and chewy like a lot of bagels.
Anyway we took the subway to the World Trade Center and walked to Tower One. There was a line, but they opened the doors just as we arrived and it moved pretty quickly, after a security check we got to the elevators. They are interior, but the walls are video screens, and they showed a view of New York where the time scaled from year 15xx to 2016 as we rode up the 102 floors. It seemed really fast, less than a minute.
At the top we got out and were directed into a small theater where they show a short video about New York. At the end the wall retracts and you can see the spectacular view out over Manhattan. Then we get to go to the observation level. It was a great move to get the 9am tickets, because it meant the observation level was almost empty when we got there. Unfortunately I left my camera at Bruce Beach, so we only had our cellphones to take pictures. This is one time I missed the telephoto lens.
We could see the ferries moving between the islands and all the activity of the city. Really great views and the weather was pretty clear so we could see forever. Yanmei regretted we didn't take a boat tour. Something for next time. There is a lot we didn't do, we barely scratched the surface actually.
After the observatory, we headed down to the 9/11 memorial.
We went back to the hotel and checked out and began our trip to Virginia to visit one of Yanmei's friends.
But first we had a quick stop in Philadelphia.
Yanmei's friends live about 30-40 minutes outside Washington DC. Along the way we had our first minor problem with charging the Tesla. We pulled into the supercharger near her friends house. It was marked on the map as “temporary”. It was there, but there were only two charging stations (as opposed to 6-8 normally), and one was occupied and the other space had some kids standing in it. They said they were holding for their parents. You can't “hold” a spot. Yanmei had to go to the bathroom, so we told the kids we'd only use it a few minutes, and pulled in. Unfortunately since the other spot was also in use it meant we charged at half speed. A few minutes only got a few miles of charge. Ideally we would have gone into the Cheesecake Factory nearby and had dinner (it was almost 8pm by then) while it charged, but since we promised only a few minutes, we left. We still had enough to make it to another supercharger, but we like to charge up the night before so we can drive the whole morning without stopping.
Finally we got to her friends house in Virginia, after another long and busy day. We started in NY, and went through New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland before arriving in Virginia. We plan on resting a bit here before continuing our journey. I've finally got a chance to catch up on the blog posts.
-David
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